The present invention relates to a furniture hinge with an adjusting system, in which a hinge arm can be secured by means of at least one adapter to a base plate and is connected by means of a hinged lever or the like to a second hinge component, for example, a hinge casing in a furniture door, the hinge arm having holes through which adjusting and/or attachment screws protrude, and the adapter being installable on the base plate and lockable by means of a rocker lever supported on the adapter so as to be able to swivel, the adapter being U-shaped and having two side arms that enclose sides of the base plate.
In conventional hinges, the hinge arm is secured to the base plate by means of a clamping screw, which generally protrudes through a slot so as to make it possible to adjust the hinge arm in the direction of the depth of the article of furniture.
Recently, snap connections for fastening a hinge arm to a base plate have been disclosed. For example, DE-A-30 26 796 and 30 39 328 describe hinges with a hinge arm and an attachment plate, in which by inserting the hinge arm in a guide in the attachment plate and moving this in a longitudinal direction the two parts that are to be locked to one another snap together. A similar attachment of a hinge arm on a base plate is described in DE-A-24 60 127. DE-A-32 41 284 describes a hinge wherein a hinge arm can slide into side guides in a base plate and can be clamped onto the base plate by means of an eccentric clamp.
The hinge arm attachments described above provide the advantage that the hinge arm can be secured very rapidly to the base plate when the article of furniture is being assembled, and that in addition no tools are required for assembly. This advantages should not be underestimated, since the door has to be held when the hinge arm is being installed. If, for example, the door is being held with one hand and the hinge arm that is to be installed is held with the other, then if the hinge arm is locked by means of a clamping screw, it is in many cases necessary to have a helper who can tighten the clamping screw with a screwdriver.
A disadvantage of the hinges in which the hinge arm or the adapter slides into the base plate from the front is that they are easily tilted. This is particularly true of tall or high doors that are fitted with many hinges.
AT-PS 360 865 proposes a hinge in which the adapter can be installed at the end of a base plate and which, at the other end, has a rocker lever by means of which the base plate can be locked.